Ian Snell started off this season like a ball of fire but he has had a rough time since the All-Star Break.  In the 2nd half of the season, Snell has started 13 games and he is 2-7 with a 5.40 ERA and a 1.57 WHIP.  In 78.1 innings, Snell has allowed 94 hits, walked 29 batters and whiffed 73.  Overall, Snell’s numbers look solid.  He has started 30 games this season for the Pirates and he is 9-12 with a 3.92 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP.  In 195 innings he has allowed 198 hits, walked 62 batters and whiffed 166.  The Pirates are now 66-85 on the season which is good for 5th place in the N.L. Central, 12.5 games behind the Cubs and Brewers and 1 game ahead of the Astros.

The Pirates have not played that well this season as they are 64-81 which has them in 5th place in the National League Central, 10.5 games behind the Brewers.  The important thing for the Pirates is that they now are 1/2 game ahead of the Astros.  They are only 1.5 games behind the Reds for 4th place.  If the Pirates could play good enough to finish in 4th place that would give them some momentum heading into the 2008 season.

The Pirates just don’t have enough good players to compete right now and that’s sad as they play in the weakest division in all of baseball.  The Pirates are 60-77 this season which has them in last place in the National League Central, 10.5 games behind the Cubs.  Freddy Sanchez started slowly this season but he’s on fire right now as he is now hitting .318 with 72 runs scored, 11 homers and 71 RBIs.  Jason Bay is having an off-year for him as he is hitting only .253 with 73 runs scored, 20 homers and 82 RBIs.  Adam LaRoche got off to a terrible start this season but he’s hot now and it has made his season numbers look decent as he is now hitting .266 with 60 runs scored, 20 homers and 80 RBIs.  The Pirates pitching staff has been pretty bad this season but you can’t blame that on Tom Gorzelanny or Mike Capps.  Gorzelanny is 13-7 with a 3.57 ERA as he has turned into the Pirates’ ace.  Capps took over the closer’s spot after Salomon Torres started the season stinking up the joint.  Capps is 4-6 with a 2.19 ERA this season and he has saved 15 games in 17 attempts this year.

The Pirates are only 4-10 the last two weeks as they’ve been outscored 76-50.  The Pirates still aren’t hitting the ball and when you combine that with bad pitching it causes trouble.  The Pirates enter this week with a 26-37 record which has them in 5th place in the National League Central, 8 games behind the Brewers.

The Pirates were 3-3 last week as they outscored their opponents 41-36.  The Pirates bats finally woke up last week and they would have won more games if their pitching was just a little bit better.  The Pirates entered this week with a 22-27 record which had them in 3rd place in the National League Central, 5.5 games behind the Brewers.